A Stone’s Throw 2025
25/5/25
A Stone's Throw Festival took over North Shields on Sunday, May 25, 2025.
Earlier in the weekend, The Horrors played a headline gig at The Exchange 1856 on Friday night and Saturday saw Lanterns on the Lake play their only gig in the North East at The King Street Social. Saturday also saw a "free entry preview" at The Engine Room which took place from 2pm to 8pm and featured acts such as Swindled, Ben Harwood and Isabel Marie.
Sunday was to begin as a blustery day. Wind came from seemingly every angle. Just as you stepped out of one stream of strong breeze, you were right into another.
Flags were held at 90° angles to their poles. There was no escaping the invisible prankster. The Tyne, which separates North from South Shields, held up diamonds, as the sun, between moments of threatening skies, gazed on down.
Venues involved in the day's festivities included: The Exchange 1856, The Three Tanners Bank, The Engine Room, The Salt Market Social, and The King Street Social Club.
A bus would make its way around the AST circuit throughout the day to bring attendees to their desired gig.
The wristband exchange point was appendaged to Tynemouth Select Cars "the coast's favourite dealer". If you fancied a look around at some motors, couches, multi-coloured cow heads and paintings of The Rolling Stones after being donned by the festival wristband, and before the music commenced, it was an interesting option. You could also chill inside of the lounge area which featured a food van and a place to purchase beverages. A sign which reads "Loading Bay" hangs above the seated area.
After obtaining entry to the festival - wristbands were available for collection from 12pm - the day’s proceedings began at 1pm upstairs at The Salt Market Social with Pit Pony.
Pit Pony: 13:00
It's a trendy venue. Mock paintings line the walls. Three mannequins stand to the above right of the stage, as if to look down on the gig goers. Chinese lanterns and disco-balls-come-plant-pots hang above the dancefloor. Pit Pony make their way on stage at 1pm, on the dot. They are a five-piece.
An "ayayayayaya" is let out by someone in the crowd before the band begin - frontwoman, Jackie, can't help but chuckle. The band begin their set and fly through their first track. A grizzly sound is travelled on to exit said track. Two band members switch over instruments, and remain on these newfound bits of gear for the set. The grizzly tones continue into track two. Pit Pony lay down some Post-Punk infused sounds for A Stone's Throw.
"Hello. We are Pit Pony."
The "ayayayaya" attendee returns.
"This is a bit of a slow one. It's called 'Cut Open'."
The guitarist, to the left of the stage, often has his face screwed up and his lip cocked like Clint Eastwood. A face of concentration if there ever was one. Eerie atmospheres created by guitar effects lead into something of a breakdown. The guitars whale and woe as Pit Pony rumble the Salt Market Social. Jackie mistakes the next song for the last one of the set. I imagine it's easily done when you're flying through the material. The next track is 'Well Well'.
"You're like a dam if the water runs slow."
The three guitarists all jive in their own way, all dance with serious faces donned. As if she's predicting her own song, Jackie mimics the band; plays air-drums, if you will. She smiles.
"This is the last song, 'Supermarket'."
Jackie's ear piece falls out; she leaves it where it lies - it can't fall any further. The track picks up the pace towards its finish. A screech of the guitar - feedback - is followed by a screech from the band.
Jackie exits the stage; the band follow shortly after. The gig comes to a close.
"Thank you."
As the crowd move to the other side of the venue to catch Robyn Mcleod, Pit Pony pack up their gear.
Robyn Mcleod: 13:45
Across the room from where Pit Pony opened the festival, Robyn Mcleod plays through a few of her jangly tunes on her one-and-only. It has a more social air to it. Benches are in abundance. Many take the opportunity to have a seat, have a chat and on occasion listen to Mcleod. Many stock up on their drink of choice. The see-through plastic panels that let light into the Salt Market Social have been painted green; it gives the place a strange green hue, as if submerged underwater. Mcleod wears pink dungarees and plays a pink Fender Jaguar. Nilufer Yanya influence drips from her performance. Especially in the jazzy chord changes and speed-up-slow-down aesthetic of the material. She receives a more than warm round of applause.
Faint thuds of a drumkit can be heard across the room - Tight Collar are setting up.
Tight Collar: 14:30
As the band soundcheck, people flow over from Robyn Mcleod. It's a bit of a back-and-forth affair inside the Salt Market Social. Soundcheck is over. "We'll see you back here in 11(minutes)." says Tom, the bassist. "2:30." says Rob, the frontman.
Self-professed corporate rockers Tight Collar kept their word - 2:30 it was.
The band are somewhat suited and booted - they do indeed live up to the tight collar name. Three of four members have moustaches, remaining member, Fez, chooses the rugged full monty. One of four members, frontman, Rob, completes the suit with a suit jacket.
The set opens on washy guitar effects and a riff reminiscent of The Police's 'Message in a Bottle'. Frontman Rob is as animated as they come. He throws limbs whenever he can. It's like he's being wound up and let go. Frantic is a word which captures the energy quite well. The smoke system in the room gives the effect that the band are working their socks off - which they are!
Frontman Rob's suit jacket comes off. He enters the crowd like a raving lunatic, ends up on the floor for a short while, gets up, mounts a table, ducks under what could potentially be an air conditioning unit, and preaches from the pulpit. These guys are wild, in the best way.
"Good afternoon, everyone. How are we?"
The pace is taken down, before it's taken back up, to sink back down. The refrains of "I'm sinking down" accurately reflect where the song is heading.
Bassist Tom bobs his head with his mouth ajar. He wears teeny glasses, John Lennon style. He mentions after the gig that he has a pair for driving, and a pair for partying.
Drummer Will’s earring resembles an earplug - this could be a revolutionary technology for gig-goers. I may copyright this idea, if it hasn't already been done.
Fez, on guitar, gets his steps in as frontman Rob turns around to him and they have a bit of a dance together.
"This is a new one. Never played live."
It has a Film Noir feel to it. Searching, mysterious. The band love to have distinct sections in their songs. If you're getting comfortable in a particular sound or feel, enjoy it while it lasts - they make capricious music, ever-changing.
"This song's about clowns."
It has a carnival feel; a playful, sinister bounce to it. The film adaptation of Stephen King's 'It' may have its new soundtrack. The bassist gets his laughs in - hee hee hoo hoo haa haa - as the track comes to a close.
"This one's called 'Last Dance on Broadway'."
The members briefly huddle around the drumkit, as if to ready themselves for the tracks ending. It comes at a sharp, intuitive moment. Attendees glance at each other and nod in approval - they're thinking what I'm thinking, the band are tight!
Frontman Rob's microphone dips lower and lower throughout the set. It can't take the assault that it's on the receiving end of, understandably. Drummer, Will, swings one arm slowly in circles as he tinkles the hi-hat with the other. Fez, shortly after, gives the arm swing a go.
The band see out their set. They have certainly won some new listeners/fans/clients over into the world of corporate rock.
The Kinks' 'Sunny Afternoon' is played out on the PA as attendees make their way elsewhere at A Stone's Throw.
I had a chat with the band after the gig. You'll be able to hear the interview on Unknown Pleasures, Monday evening at 7pm. If you miss it, you can use the Listen Again feature on SparkSunderland.com or the SPARK app.
*or listen to it right here!
After a brief break from gig-going, up next were Man/Woman/Chainsaw - catchy name. They played at The Exchange 1856.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw: 18:00
Multi-venue festivals have a cool thing of often featuring a moment to catch acts sound checking - it's the on-off nature of exchanging stages which opens up the floor. The secretive behind-the-scenes of "normal" gigs become an out-in-the-open piece of trivia for music fans. Bands also share moments together that they more than likely would not be able to have, unless they play the same venues week in, week out.
It's warm inside The Exchange. The sort of warm that dampens your clothes in a couple of minutes.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw are a six-piece lead by Vera Leppänen. The place goes dead quiet before the band play. Man/Woman/Chainsaw open their set with the opening track on their most recent project, the Eazy Peazy EP. "The Boss" revs to life, like the band are starting up their instruments. Violin (Clio Harwood) and synthesized keys (Emmie-Mae Avery) make for a strange sonic partnership. I'm all here for it.
Guitarist, Billy Ward, gets in on vocals. His microphone is a lot taller than I'm used to seeing, maybe it's just the angle I am looking at the stage from. It's similar to Limmy of Motorhead, for a point of reference. He'll have a sore neck in the morning. He wears a Freddy Krueger-like shirt. Two out of six members wear glasses; they also happen to be the two male members. A coincidence? Probably.
A horse is projected behind the band’s name/logo, which is covering the wall behind the stage. It takes on a colourful, psychedelic edge as it gallops in the same spot across the screen. Atomic bomb-y graphics of smoke plumes waft out behind the band’s logo. From time-to-time, guitarist Billy Ward points his guitar skyward as he plays. He jumps around for a bit - as well as you can while strapped with a guitar.
"Helloooooo. We're Man/Woman/Chainsaw. Thank you for coming."
Benjamin Holmes, to the other side of frontwoman Vera, has hair like an anime character. He's also suited and booted, smart as you like. Shadows of the band can be seen on the walls towards the back left and right of the stage. It has a very Velvet Underground/Pink Floyd/UFO Club quality to it.
All members, at one time or another, catch each other’s glance, and smile. The show is going more than well, and they know it. Man/Woman/Chainsaw are young, but have a well understood dynamic between music and personalities. They know how to play their particular role within the outfit. Emmie-Mae Avery on keys leads the band into their next track. Someone in the crowd, to the side of me, says to their mates: "where's the chainsaw?" A fair question in my estimations.
"A software update of Arena is available!" reads the message box which now sits in front of the band’s projection behind them. The band acknowledge it and have a laugh at it. A cheer is had as it is eventually sorted. The horse and the atomic bomb are back.
Skies not too far off North Shields' during the day - cloudy to clear, and back to cloudy - stream across the projector like a sped-up landscape painting in motion.
The gig ends on 'Ode to Clio'. It has a life-affirming, cinematic quality. Soul nourishing. Both guitarists run around the stage, crossing paths more than once. Ward, in the Krueger-like shirt, runs right off stage. He somehow manages to be on the other side of the stage when I next see him.
The A Stone's Throw projection once again plasters the back wall. The gig had ended.
"Thank you."
Home Counties: 19:00
Another six-piece in Bristol-via-London's Home Counties enters the fray, this time we're back where it began, The Salt Market Social.
A Korg (synthesizer) with "Home Counties" written in red duct tape sits at the front of the stage. Home Counties opens with 'Back to the 70s'. It's the opening track to their In a Middle English Town EP which was released in 2022. It has a spoken word intro, like a guy at a table in the pub chatting to his mates on a night out. Home Counties' Barn Peiser Pepin takes spoken word duties with his slicked back hair, and a green tambourine as his sound maker of choice.
"Come on and hit me with tax in double figures, double figures.
And let the country collapse into pieces, into pieces.
You make me wanna go back to the 1970's"
The band dip into the lead single from their debut album Exactly As It Seems. 'Bethnal Green' sits as a fine example of the bands Dance Punk ethos. Offset synthesizers chime out like a kids game set, albeit a haunted one. The crowd are finding their feet.
"How we doin'? We're Home Counties. It's lovely to be here! This is a new one."
The band play their latest single 'Spain'. It must be a weird sensation to play out new material. It's like letting outsiders in on a secret, but the outsiders are there in droves. As one would wish, the crowd love it. A red tambourine is brought out by frontman, Will. The Korg, with "Home Counties" duct taped on it, wiggles back-and-forth as the band move, groove, on stage. A large majority of vocal duties are shared between Will Harrison and Lois Kelly. They are positioned side-by-side, Korg-by-Korg.
"Thank you so much. That's the new ones. We're gonna play a couple off our album." Home Counties' debut album, Exactly As It Seems, came out last year.
One gig-goer, to the left of the stage, has been busting moves all gig. He's moving on in age, but not in physical ability. Home Counties play 'Wild Guess'.
"Like a river full of dirt, I'm hurt.
Like a petri dish of mould, enclosed, so cold."
One for the landlords, the band dip into "You Break It, You Bought It". It's a crowd favourite. You get the feeling that most in attendance can relate to the scheming landlord story.
Rob, frontman of Tight Collar, is breaking some moves in the crowd. So are his bandmates who are scattered elsewhere.
"We've been Home Counties. Last one!"
Home Counties close out on 'Uptight', the intro to Exactly As It Seems. The crowd are given their last chance to dance. They oblige.
"We've been Home Counties. Have a lovely evening."
Home Counties have a lovable quality about them. You can't help but enjoy their presence.
Shame: 21:15
The noise levels inside the Exchange rise as anticipation for the gig builds. You get the feeling that a lot of tickets were sold off of the back of this set. South London's Shame would headline The Exchange. The lights dim down; the boys take to stage.
The band, who have been teasing the idea of new music and the possibility of a new album across their social media accounts in recent months, open on a new track.
"How we doin' North Shields? It's a pleasure to be here."
Frontman Charlie Steen resembles a priest with his suit jacket and rather huge, white collar. The suit jacket comes off as the band perform 'Six Pack'. Steen has suspenders on with no t-shirt. The sort of priest you may get at a hen do. Steen takes the opportunity to crowd surf. It looks like he's gone head over heels, but the crowd catch him just in time. Bassist, Josh Finerty, wildly jumps around the stage throughout the gig. Shame performs 'Tasteless'. Steen picks up the mic stand and points it around the crowd while singing "I like you better when you're not around." The crowd all seem to have someone in mind as this one plays.
Shame plays yet another new track before toning down the energy, and turning up the emotion with 'Adderall'. 'Adderall' is about as sing-songy as Shame get. The crowd don't miss the chance to join in.
Drunk Tank Pink was the first Shame album that I was aware of upon the release of the album. To the pleasure of my ears, and many others, Shame play my personal favourite track of theirs, 'Born in Luton'. The fire alarm sounds off during the performance - the heat that emanates from Shame's performance seemingly reaches alarm bell levels. Steen puts his all into the refrain of "I've been waiting outside for all of my life, and now I've got to the door, there's no one inside." You can tell he wrote the lyrics at a time when they meant something to him, and still do.
Tight Collar's frontman gets hoisted up to crowd-surf. The Tight Collar crew have been spotted at many gigs across the day. Fair play.
Steen can't help but smile at the response, and the crowd surfers. New songs are sprinkled throughout the bands set - a lot more than expected. I think that the new album may be closer than initially thought.
A moshpit opens in the crowd as 'Snow Day' is torn through. People of a more mature age look down from the balcony with wide grins on their faces. They're watching youth in action. A lad in a Newcastle jersey makes his way over the crowd. Steen notices and, once the song ends, says:
"I got asked in primary school what team I support. I said Man U, I got beat up. I said Chelsea, I got beat up. My mum's from Newcastle. I said Newcastle, nobody touched me. Don't mess with the Magpies. Here's One Rizla."
A fan favourite, the crowd lap it up. It's one of the earlier songs in the Shame repertoire to make waves in music circles.
"We've got one left. Show us what you've got."
Shame ends their set with 'Gold Hole', another track from their 2018 debut. They seem to have not lost the love for their earlier material, a pretty rare feat in the process of musical maturation.
Steen disappears from the stage and reappears right on top of the crowd, literally. He's standing on their hands - a Shame showpiece. With a shaky leg, he crowd-surfs back to the stage. The band thank A Stone's Throw for turning up. Shame close shop.
There were two choices at 10.30pm for the A Stone's Throw finale: Lizzie Esau would perform at the Three Tanners Bank, and Aussie outfit Psychedelic Porn Crumpets would take to stage at King Street Social Club. I chose to see the latter.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets: 22:30
The venue was like something out of Phoenix Nights, a throwback. Funnily enough the word "Phoenix" is involved in the club's address. It's the sort of place you were brought as a kid, but haven't quite managed to find later on in life - the last remnants of a world that once was. I bet the bands soak up these opportunities. They may never play venues like these ever again.
Off the back of releasing their new album, Carpe Diem, Moonman, no more than ten days ago, the somewhat progressive, somewhat, you guessed it, psychedelic, sounds of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets took over North Shields.
The band are seven minutes late for the 10.30pm showtime, but the crowd clearly don't mind, they're too busy being excited for the Crumpets. Five men of varying hairstyles take to stage.
"This song is dedicated to Bruno Guimarães."
The set gets underway. Frontman, Jack McEwan, sings from behind his hair. It covers his face, as well as the microphone. If the venue collapsed, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. The foundations of the King Street Social Club must be wondering what on earth is going in upstairs.
"My grandparents used to drink in this pub." says frontman, McEwan. There must be a North Shields/North East connection somewhere in his past.
"Now we're rolling, eh? We were lucky enough to get tickets to the match today. This song is dedicated to big Dan Burn." Newcastle would lose 1-0 on the day, but still qualify for Champions League football next season.
It's a headbangers paradise. The bass would tickle your toes. The Crumpets are a lot heavier in the flesh than on studio recordings. A security guard stands just outside the moshpit to make sure things don't spill over.
"Is it alright if we play a new one for you? This song's dedicated to Alexander Isak."
The sound has been set to rattle your soul. Ribs and body-bits feel like they're swaying in a lukewarm breeze.
"This is my kinda pub, man."
There will be many, many sore necks in the morning. The Crumpets play the opening track on their debut album, High Visceral, Pt.1.
Being the debut album's opening track, 'Cornflake' is more than likely most people’s introduction to the band. It's received more than well.
The Crumpets' final song builds up for three-or-so minutes before it gets to the meat of the song. A few demons have well-and-truly been exercised within the King Street Social Club.
McEwan's last words: "Big up the Toon."
Kudos to the A Stone's Throw crew: promoters, organisers etc. They ran a tight ship. Until next time.
